McDonald's made a major attempt to upgrade its burger menu — here's the verdict

That's exactly how I felt upon discovering that McDonald's had killed its Create Your Taste experiment.

A thorn in the side of many franchisees offering over 30 fancy ingredients and toppings, the Create Your Taste customizable menu was recently replaced with a different and more limited menu platform called Signature Crafted Recipes.

Instead of allowing you to build your own burger, this new menu offers three burgers to choose from: pico guacamole, sweet barbecue bacon, and maple bacon dijon.

You can then choose a protein — quarter-pound burger, crispy chicken, or grilled chicken — and pick from two options of buns.

As a Create Your Taste fan myself, I decided to test all three replacement burgers. Which, if any, are worth a bite?

Unsurprisingly, the sandwiches come in the same strange double-wide container that the Create Your Taste burgers arrived in.

Hollis Johnson

First up, we have the pico guacamole burger. It's a vaguely Southwestern themed flavor — very vaguely. Underneath the "artisan roll" (you can choose between that or the classic sesame seed bun) lies a quarter-pound beef patty, white cheddar cheese, pico de gallo, guacamole, lettuce, and buttermilk ranch, all for $6.69.

Hollis Johnson

See what I mean by "vaguely Southwestern"? I'm not sure what flavor demographic this is aiming for… Southwestern, without spice? But with ranch? And I can't even discern the white cheddar cheese, so why bother including it? Why not spicy pepper jack, which was on the Create Your Taste menu?

Hollis Johnson

The powerless and pale pico de gallo makes for a watery, sloppy mess, and a water-logged bun. Every bite brings a deluge of tomato juice onto your napkin or lap, depending on how prepared you are.

Hollis Johnson

Ranch is an odd flavor choice, making it taste more like a salad with beef than a burger. The pico is weak and watery. Also, where is the spicy option? Create Your Taste had myriad options for heat. This is ranch and guac — two very smooth and mellow tones. A sandwich like this screams for spice, but its piquant pleas go unheard.

Hollis Johnson

Next is the maple bacon dijon iteration for $6.99. It has the same somewhat tired patty topped with maple-seasoned bacon, caramelized onions, white cheddar cheese, dijon mustard, and lettuce.

Hollis Johnson

I'm more optimistic about this choice, as the smell alone is mouthwatering. Waves of smoky, maple deliciousness waft up from the container to greet you.

Hollis Johnson

The bacon is crispy and thick; three pieces per usual, but they seem better somehow. It feels like a thicker, more confident fast-food bacon than I'm used to — I welcome it with open arms. Fast-food bacon is so often a disappointing, ineffectual experience.

Hollis Johnson

The dijon brings a perfect balance of tart and sweet, and plays perfectly with the beef. Caramelized onions are plentiful and sweet; the white cheddar cheese actually makes its presence known. Surprisingly, there are some very lovely flavors at play — it leans a little to the sweet side overall, but not too much.

Hollis Johnson

Finally, we have the sweet barbecue bacon burger for the same price. I worry for any burger that has "sweet" in the name. After all, sugar is already omnipresent in fast-food without targeting the sweeter side of things. Here, the beef patty is slathered in sweet barbecue sauce, applewood smoked bacon, caramelized onions, crispy fried onions, and (surprise) white cheddar cheese.

Hollis Johnson

Three burgers in, I start to realize that the patty is played out. McDonald's beef just isn't all that special — not objectively bad, but bland.

Hollis Johnson

It's an understatement to call the barbecue sauce sweet. It's cloying and viscous with no edge or bite to speak of, and it seems to amplify to beef's banality. The cheese is something of an afterthought, and the caramelized onions are lost completely within the sugary surge.

Hollis Johnson

While the crispy onions add some welcome textural topography, the bacon loses out. It severely lacks in flavor and crunch in the face of the maple bacon. Overall, this is a outrageously sweet, strange burger. It is in desperate needs of a barbecue overhaul: more smoke, more grit, and more bite.

Hollis Johnson

Our verdict: The maple bacon dijon burger stands alone as the only tasty option here. While the new Signature Crafted burgers did arrive in about half the time than the Create Your Taste burgers did, the burgers were far less satisfying. We're not convinced this replacement is an upgrade.